"The Wonder of Apamea..." Apamea by coceng

---

HAMAH<<<<<APAMEA>>>>>PALMYRA

---

SYRIA12th April 2005 ( Tuesday )

---

INFORMATION...

---

Some guidebooks cited Apamea is as magnificent as Palmyra but the setting is a different story !
Palmyra lies in the desert & Apamea lies on a hill in the lush fertile land called The Al-Ghab plain.
The site has no set opening hours as like Palmyra, there's no fence surrounding the ruins here.
Apamea was built in 3rd century BC by Seleucus I, a former general Alexander The Great. It was named for his Persian wife.
Before that, it was known as Pharnake.
Apamea certainly was built at the crossing of the two main trade routes through Syria. It was even visited by Antony and Cleopatra !
It later became an important city to the Byzantine Empire.
It became one of the three main cities of The Seleucid Empire...with Antioch on the Orontes Valley and Seleucia on the Tigris Valley.
This Empire spread from The Mediterranean to The Indus Valley.
It was later destroyed by the Persians. Sadly, it was also destroyed by an earthquake in the 6th century.
Apamea is famous for its columned street or what is known as Cardo Maximus by The Romans.
This stretch of street is about 1.85 km long ! It runs from the north to the south.
The street is approximately 10 m wide and was used for wheeled transport. It was lined on both sides with civic and religious buildings. Now, only The Cardo Maximus remains as the buildings by their side have long been gone through the ages.
Apamea is best visited from Hamah which is about 60 km away.
Hamah is south-east of Apamea.
Taking the service taxi, first, you have to reach a village called Sequilbiya, then another service taxi to the bottom of the hill where Apamea ruins would be situated.
It's a steep climb to go up the ruins but hopefully somebody would give you a lift !

Right !
Before you come to Apamea, I urge you to have a visit to this page :

---

Ancient Coinage Of Apamea

---

It is on this site that you could see many coins used during the glory days of Apamea !
Now, when you are around Apamea, there would be some guys coming to you to sell these 'coins' !
A Reminder : It's illegal to take out Syrian antiquities out from the country so if you want to buy anything 'ancient', make sure you seal them well in your luggage !
In addition to that, it's always doubtful that those 'ancient' stuffs sold by those men are genuine or actually from that glorious era !
Whether to buy or not to buy, it's up to you ! DO BARGAIN FOR THEM !
Ironically, you would see all those stuffs anyway in museums throughout Syria !
Now, the question is : Which is more 'antique' ?
The ones sold at the ancient sites or the ones displayed in the museums ?!
Go Figure !
Me ? Oh yes ! I bought something here...No, it's not a coin but something 'nicer' than that !
I saw the same thing in Damascus Museum !
I told Firas about it; He quipped that in Syria we could buy anything because they were 'mass-produced' !
We had a good laugh !
I also told him, it would be more nicer to buy those 'mass-produced' stuffs at the ancient sites because they (the stuffs) would be a great way to remember the memory of me being there in the first place...

• Pros:Amazing Ruins Perched On A Hill !
• Cons:The Public Transport Is A Bit Tricky...
• In a nutshell:A Good Day Trip From Hamah...